Little Buddies Daycare

I had one room left of my daycare toys and such. I just officially sold all my daycare stuff (I think). Lots of mixed emotions.

This daycare was open for a short season in my life. So many kids walked thru my door. It's a place that will always hold a place in my heart.

Ready to start the new year...with a new room for hockey gear. 🤣

Ohhhh sweet memories. I hope you all are splashing in the rain and catching raindrops

We need your help! We are in need of gloves, handwarmers, sleeping bags, blankets, granola bars, matches, lighters, bottled water, hoodies, socks, juice boxes or $10 gift cards to Tims/McDonald's by this Saturday! PM if you can help!!

Gratitude for with this chapter, this small precious season of my life.

What chapter?

Well....with mixed emotions I debated to write this post. But I think I have attempted to celebrate all moments at Little Buddies Discovery and Daycare Centre on this page. So it only makes sense to officially celebrate this chapter as well.

Due to the pandemic I closed in March 2020. I made numerous changes to prepare for September 2020.

I ensured the safety of the children in my care. We had no fieldtrips. We had no guest speakers. We had no parents in the centre. I know this may seem small, but to me those connections were the foundation for me building a small community filled of relationships and it didn't matter on ethnicity, gender and/or social status. It was a safe space to meet others, to appreciate and acknowledge one another.

I loved seeing your littles saying 'good morning' as someone passed us on our morning walk, or one of my littles held the door, or my littles used their words to communicate needing help or asking for a turn or learning to be independent and putting on their shoes and jackets.

Well in Sept 2020 I struggled. I cried a lot. I was frustrated. I was isolated. I missed my community, the relationships, the conversations. I kept it to myself.

I pushed hard to be present. I felt defeated. I abruptly closed in October 2020. I felt awful. I'm not looking for pity or comments.

What are we celebrating? Celebrating I had my doors open for a short period and had so many wonderful memories. Celebrating all of the curiosity from your children in my care. Celebrating your trust in me everyday. Celebrating the community in letting me offering unique experiences for my littles.

Thank you to a mom, who shared a recent conversation with her daughter...Miss Rupi LOVES the rain and puddles!

I really do. This conversation was a great reminder even though I felt I couldn't give the experiences important to me. It was a great reminder even though I felt I couldn't give the experiences import to me.

Remember littles "let them pass and then you can splash."

I'm forever grateful for everyone that came thru my door.

Gratitude for with this chapter, this small precious season of my life.

What chapter?

Well....with mixed emotions I debated to write this post. But I think I have attempted to celebrate all moments at Little Buddies Discovery and Daycare Centre on this page. So it only makes sense to officially celebrate this chapter as well.

Due to the pandemic I closed in March 2020. I made numerous changes to prepare for September 2020.

I ensured the safety of the children in my care. We had no fieldtrips. We had no guest speakers. We had no parents in the centre. I know this may seem small, but to me those connections were the foundation for me building a small community filled of relationships and it didn't matter on ethnicity, gender and/or social status. It was a safe space to meet others, to appreciate and acknowledge one another.

I am so proud of each and every little in my care as they showed such kindness and confidence to anyone we met on our adventures. Whether it was learning to say 'good morning' as someone passed us on our morning walk, or one of my littles held the door, or my littles used their words to communicate needing help or asking for a turn or learning to be independent and putting on their shoes and jackets. It was truly a pleasure being a space for fun and laughter with your children.

Well in Sept 2020 I struggled. I cried a lot. I was frustrated. I was isolated. I missed my community, the relationships, the conversations. I kept it to myself.

This did not help me finding 'great things' to do. I felt lost as the things I thought were the most important were now not available to me.

I pushed hard to be present. I felt defeated. I abruptly closed in October 2020. I felt awful. I'm not looking for pity or comments. I'm just giving you my honest truth.

What are we celebrating? Celebrating I had my doors open for a short period and had so many wonderful memories. Celebrating all of the curiosity from your children in my care. Celebrating your trust in me everyday. Celebrating the community in letting me offering unique experiences for my littles.

I didn't want to write this post. But thank you to a mom, who shared a conversation from last week she had with her daughter. She told her mom....

"Miss Rupi LOVES the rain. She loves jumping in puddles."

I really do. This conversation seems small. But it was a great reminder even though I felt I couldn't give the experiences important to me. These littles remember the little fun experiences we had. And we did jump in many puddles. Remember littles....."Let them pass and then you can splash."

And gratitude to anyone working in the field. This is such a tough season. You might not realize all these small changes and extra sanitizing is purely exhausting.

Even though with a heavy heart I have officially closed, I still plan to use this platform to share stories.

Thank you to all the people who have come thru my door I am forever grateful for our conversations, connections and building relationships.

Merry Christmas family and friends! We hope you all have a safe and happy holiday....oh and meet our new member of our family...Junior! He has filled out hearts with so much love!!

We are over $9000! We plan to keep going until Nov. 11th to reach our goal of 40k!

Have a safe and Happy Halloween!

Just today, $555 was donated via GoFundMe and cash!!
Our total now is $8983!!!!!
(GoFundMe page $7983, Cheques $700, Cash $300)

$17 short for $9000!! Great way to end the week...Thank you for the continuous support!

Stay safe.

Have a happy Halloween.

Community is a reflection.

What do you mean a reflection?

I remember this ..we did our year end in June 2020.... from a distance. As one of my gifts to each little was a pair of sunglasses. The sunglasses was a reminder for my littles, when they wear the sunglasses remember to see the reflection of community.

I wrote a special poem for them too...

Community starts with me.
Community is working together.
Community is talking to one another.
Community is understanding each other.
Community is listening to one's words.
Community is volunteering your time.
Community is giving a smile.
Community is a conversation saying hello.
Community is built with you.
Community starts with me.

And I didn't realize a few short months later I would be asking my friends and family what does community mean to you? And literally working on project building a community.

Each response has been unique and is a reflection of our thoughts, vision, description on how we see community. Some words describing community:

Community is kindness.
Community is our neighbors.
Community is warmth.
Community is maintaining.
Community is strength.
Community is the people.
Community is volunteerism.
Community is consistency.
Community is connecting.
Community is shared interests.
Community is common goals.

Community is all of us.

Reflection gives us an opportunity to stop, sort out our thoughts, to give meaning and purpose. To me community is a reflection on how we are all processing and coping. Standing together in various ways. Showing up for one another. That's what community is about...creating a purpose. I'm reflecting how a couple months ago...my theme was community. But today my purpose is to show up for the community. And I do that by getting inspired by others and motivated to create a goal.

We have reached $8,200 (including cheques) for online fundraiser "Virtually Connecting our Community,".....that is just incredible. Someone mentioned to me yesterday..."We all want to make a difference, and this is a difference. One donation at a time."

Thank you again for all of your support, thru the interviews, sharing my posts and donations. We are going to keep going strong to reach our goal. We got this.

If you want more information here is the GoFundMe page
http://gf.me/u/y43z4g

Connected.

What is connected?

You. Me. Us.

This is the time of year we talk about gratitude and being thankful.

Well I'm loving the connection between the littles and I. These littles are listening to our words and actions.

M: that's the mug I got you!

Me: Yes it is! I love the mug! And this is the heart I got from E!

E: smile on her face.

Me: What do you think is Miss Rupi's thing to do?

S: Jump in mud puddles!!! (A huge smile on her face)

Me: Yes you are right!!!...hmm what do think is Miss Rupi's favorite gift? (I was thinking they would say hi 5's or Starbucks)

K: US!!!!!!!! And she had a big smile in her face too.

Me: absolutely!!!

I truly love the connections we are making together. These connections are filled with curiosity, and an interest in creating a bond with another. This is first year where my youngest little is two years old. I usually have a couple of one year olds. This year I also have 4 out 7 who will be going to kindergarten next year.😭😭😭

September was definitely an adjustment, trying to consider all the different scenarios and options in this pandemic. Thank you for the parents as I had to make many changes in such a short period of time.

I am thankful for this year, in making connections with these little turkeys. 😉

What does connection mean to you? How do you feel connected?

Amazing is COTTON CANDY!!

What words start with the letter A?

We focused on:

The word of the day: Amazing
The body part: Ankle
The Feely box: Apple

Well....let's start with the word of the day...I love expanding your littles with BIG words. Sometimes I prompt them with the meaning and sometimes not. It is fun to see what context littles hear the word.

A for Amazing:
I said..."Amazing. What is amazing?" If I said that to you, one is the first word in your head? Will you share with us?

I didn't say who is amazing, what tastes amazing, what looks amazing, and/or what smells amazing?

One had a big smile....and yelled COTTON CANDY!!!
Another one said, hot dogs!
One said, you! (Aw shucks 😉😊😉)
Another said, Skylar!! 😁

So interesting how littles process words.

A for the Ankle:
I used a cube with images of the human body to show different parts of our body.

A for Apple:
I had an apple in a feely box. We got to put our hand in, to feel the item and guess the item! Now typically we work together to make apple sauce. But due to COVID we need to take a couple extra steps to be cautious. So this time we did not make apple sauce, but we sample a piece and each little got to take one apple home.

We talked about the inside of the apple are the flesh and seeds. The outside red part is the skin.

For Art, we got to glue the parts together for an apple. Take a peak at their opened ended art!

What is open ended art?
The littles get to be the creator, it does NOT have to go a specific way on the paper. Why is that important?

1. Its your child's creation.
2. Its your child's perception.
3. Its your child's vision.
4. Its your child's art.
5. Its your child's DEVELOPMENTAL growth.

I can tell by your child's art, the typical age group.
I can see if your child is needing more opportunities for fine motor skills.
I can see if your child knows the purpose of glue.
I can tell your child is having sooooo much fun just making art!

When you see your child's art....ask "What did you make?" Or "I see you used lots of blue"

Let them tell you about their creations.

Don't say it's beautiful. It could be a dead cat...no joke. That happened to me in my first year teaching preschool. 🤦🏻‍♀️

We had a fantastic day! This week was much better than last week. Parents thank you so much for your patience as we are all trying to figure this out together.

Look around you...what is amazing? What is your favorite apple?

I think your littles are just amazing. And I LOVE pink lady apples!!

It was great to see my littles again, smiling, playing, running outside, and painting! We were outside for most of the day.

I only had 7 littles today....but I'm wiped, trying to follow all these new protocols...

Thinking of all my teacher/E.A friends, I hope tomorrow runs smoothly as possible for you and your classroom.